The EA analyzes whether these parcels will be offered for competitive leasing to allow exploration and development of federal oil and gas resources. There are three alternatives analyzed within the EA including offering all of the nominated parcels for sale, offering a subset of the parcels for sale or not offering any parcels.

In order for a parcel to be offered in a lease sale, it is typically nominated by industry.

“This environmental assessment is not opening new lands to oil and gas leasing, but is evaluating new leasing requests for lands already open to leasing,” said Keith Berger, BLM Royal Gorge Field Manager. “We encourage the public to review the environmental assessment and provide us with comments on the parcels being offered.”

Written comments must be received by June 3, and may be submitted via e-mail toBLM_CO_RG_Comments@blm.govor by mail to BLM Royal Gorge Field Office, 3028 East Main, Cañon City, CO, 81212. The most effective comments refer to a specific parcel and its associated resources.

Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment—including your personal identifying information—may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

The State of Colorado receives 49 percent of the proceeds from each sale, with the remainder going to the U.S. government. The State of Colorado received more than $158 million in Fiscal Year 2012 from royalties, rentals and bonus bid payments for all federal minerals, including oil and gas. BLM Colorado currently has approximately 4.2 million acres of public mineral estate leased for oil and natural gas development, generating more than $6.5 billion in direct economic benefits in 2012 and approximately $9.5 billion in total economic impacts.

The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM's mission is to manage and conserve the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations under our mandate of multiple-use and sustained yield. In Fiscal Year 2013, the BLM generated $4.7 billion in receipts from public lands.